During a round of playing the game of golf, a golfer inserts a tee into the ground a number of times. The purpose of the tee is to support a golf ball at a desired height appropriate for driving the ball with a selected golf club.
Most conventionally, a tee is inserted into the ground manually. The golfer estimates by feel what height is attained when the tee is pressed into the ground. Because of this unscientific and inexact procedure, variations in height of the tee above ground are inherent, resulting in unpredictable variations in the character of the drive of a golf ball struck by a golf club. It is still more difficult for the golfer to accurately set the heights of tees corresponding to different golf clubs. All of these uncertainties are further compounded if the golfer is relatively less experienced or, as is often the case, does not actually know what should be the optimum tee height for a given club.
Setting a tee at the proper height is also made difficult because the density or hardness of the ground may vary. Sometimes, a mere difference in pressure required to insert a tee into the ground will result in different judgments by the golfer of whether the tee has been set at the proper height. Under extreme conditions, the ground may be so hard that insertion of the tee is almost impossible and sometimes a tee is intentionally broken to facilitate setting it low to the ground.
Because of one or more of the foregoing problems, various devices have been provided for use in setting a tee. These devices are typically inconvenient or cumbersome to use or are expensive or involve several components. U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,848 requires the threading of a disk within a body member. This device requires a screwdriver and typically the setting is rarely adjusted. Further, this device cannot remove the tee from the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,727 describes a tee setter which is non-adjustable and thus cannot vary the insertion depth of the tee. U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,883 describe a tee setter having notches which allow the tee to be inserted to several predetermined depths. This device has limited adjustment and cannot be used to remove the tee from the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,719 describes an adjustable tee setting having spring elements which hold the head of the tee. This device is unnecessarily complicated and cannot remove the tee once it is inserted into the ground.